AWI Quarterly » 2012 Winter

Nestled in the Western New York community of Alfred, Windy Ridge Natural Farms is a pasture-based poultry farm that raises its laying hens in accordance with AWI’s Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) standards.

"Most current use of chimpanzees for biomedical research is unnecessary," according to a landmark Institute of Medicine report titled Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research: Assessing the Necessity.

The United States has prohibited the landing and possession of thorny skates in U.S. waters since 2003. Despite this, their numbers have dropped precipitously, to a point alarmingly below the threshold needed to ensure the species’ survival.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey - the “Greatest Show on Earth” according to its slogan - has a new distinction that probably won’t appear in its promotional materials: The circus company has been slapped with the largest fine ever under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) against an exhibitor.

Albert Schweitzer once said, “... all of us must feel the horror that lies in thoughtless torturing and killing.” In November, at the Hill Center in Washington, D.C., AWI awarded the Albert Schweitzer Medal to three state prosecutors who not only feel the horror, but aggressively confront those responsible - meting out justice to individuals who cause animals to suffer via acts of willful maliciousness, severe neglect, or the more organized and systematic brutality of animal fighting.